In certain electrostatic copy machines which use magnetic toners, the toner is basically composed of minute magnetite (or some other magnetic material) particles which are coated with a suitable non-conducting synthetic resin. These particles which, in at least one instance, are approximately 10 microns in size and can be magnetized and demagnetized and can be influenced by extraneous magnetic fields. It is a combination of these magnetic and electrostatic properties of the toner which are used to transport and project the toner particles from the toner storage hopper to the electrostatic latent image on the photo-conductive surface of the drum, so that the latent image is thereby developed. The synthetic resin coating is a meltable fusion component and is subsequently used to fuse the toner to the paper after the developed image has been transferred from the drum to the paper. Excess toner on the drum is then discharged into a receptacle for disposal. When the receptacle becomes nearly full, an indicator light will flash telling the operator to remove the receptacle and discard the toner. Such used toner has lost its magnetic charge and is not suitable for reuse in copying.
The amount of the toner disposed of in this manner can be anywhere from 50 to 80 percent of the toner originally put into the machine. Since toner is relatively expensive, this is a costly waste of materials. It would be advantageous if this toner could be reused, but presently there is no method known for rejuvenating and recycling the toner.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a method for rejuvenating toner used in certain electrostatic copy machines.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a simple apparatus for rejuvenating used magnetic toner.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method of rejuvenating magnetic toner by applying a timed magnetic field to the magnetic toner.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a rejuvenator for magnetic toner which remagnetizes the toner.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for rejuvenating magnetic toner which applies a magnetic field to used magnetic toner which is automatically timed.